Organisation of placement

It is the responsibility of the Workplace Learning team to arrange all professional experience placements. A placement that has been organised without the prior approval of the Workplace Learning team will not be approved.

Under no circumstances should teacher education students approach schools / early childhood providers requesting placements. Nor should they enter into agreements regarding future placements.

Please note: The Bachelor of Education (Birth-5) students are exempt from this rule and will be advised by the Workplace Learning team on the process and timing for submitting their applications for professional placement.

Applying for placement

Students enrolled in on-campus courses, please follow the InPlace self-selectable allocation process.

Students enrolled in an online course are required to use the InPlace self-placement allocation process. Please follow the InPlace self-placement allocation process.

  • Any enquiries about the allocation process should be directed to the Workplace Learning Team: FOAE-WPL@csu.edu.au.

Applications must be completed at least eight weeks before the requested placement start date to allow the Workplace Learning team time to negotiate and confirm the placements with the relevant schools / early childhood services.

Eligibility to proceed with professional experience placement is dependent upon students meeting their course requirements. These requirements are;

  • All teacher education students must be enrolled in a Charles Sturt professional experience (EPT) subject
  • All teacher education students must have obtained and uploaded their NSW Working with Children Check number and expiry date to InPlace prior to placement allocation.
  • Child Protection Training, First Aid and Anaphylaxis Training to be successfully completed; current, and uploaded into InPlace 6 weeks before placement allocation.

Working with children check

Child Protection Awareness Training requirements for all States and Territories are located in the links below, many will require teacher education students to create logins for the Department of Education in the state or territory

Please note: teacher education students seeking placements outside of NSW must complete the relevant State appropriate.

For Primary and Secondary School placements only, students require:

Appropriate professional behaviour is expected in any Professional Experience. To be fully aware of professional expectations, all teacher education students should refer to the NSW Department of Education and Communities Code of Conduct and The Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics, and apply the relevant information to your placement and/or your working environment after graduation.

Students who have current or recent employment experience as full time teachers in their curriculum area may apply to their Course Director for an exemption from a professional experience placement, consideration will be made on the basis of currency, scope and duration of their teaching experience.

Please note: There is no exemption from professional experience for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Birth to Five) or the Bachelor of Education (EC&P) courses or for those enrolled in a professional experience subject as a Single Subject Study.

Preparing for placement

Once you're placement is confirmed, you'll be notified by the Workplace Learning team via InPlace of your placement details approximately 3 weeks prior to placement.

You will be advised of:

  • Placement organisation name
  • Contact details
  • supervising teacher
  • University liaison officer

The following checklist is designed for teacher education students to follow in order to help in the planning for a successful placement.

  1. Ensure that you've read and understood the relevant Guides to Professional Experience Placement, the Subject Outline and texts for placement.

    Ensure all academic tasks relevant for professional experience preparation are completed.
  2. Ensure all administrative paperwork is ready to be given to the placement site.


    Prepare your professional experience folder.
  3. Please introduce yourself to the placement setting before the placement starts and become familiar with its policies, procedures and details of the placement classes.


    Confirm that the supervising teacher will be present every day.
  4. In the event of any unplanned absences, adjustments will be necessary to the placement. Please contact the Workplace Learning team for advice and assistance by emailing FOAE-WPL@csu.edu.au.
  5. Ensure you know the expected dress code and confirm the hours of work, where to go and who to contact upon arrival.
    You can order your teacher education polo tops through Charles Sturt's Charlie's Online store.

NOTE: As a teacher education student, you are required to wear identification whilst on your Professional Experience Placement and carry your University student ID card. You can either purchase a Charles Sturt name badge from the online store and carry your ID card or wear your University student ID card in a clear plastic lanyard or clear plastic name badge sleeve during school visits and placements.

Changing a confirmed placement

Requests to change a confirmed placement will only be considered in exceptional circumstances involving serious and unavoidable changes. You must promptly contact the Workplace Learning team to allow the Manager and relevant placement sites to explore alternative arrangements.

Next steps

Information for when you're on placement